Martian Meteorite in Display Box 200-400mg
 
Researchers estimate that meteorites from Mars are between the ages of 4.5 to 200 billion years old. By comparison, the Earth is approximately 4.5 billion years old, which means some meteorites are as old as our very own planet.Not only are these rocks incredibly ancient, but the journey that they’ve taken to get here is also a perilous one. Few meteorites survive their passage through Earth’s atmosphere, and fewer still are ever recovered by human beings. Meteorites land indiscriminately, and many have fallen in our oceans or in remote areas where they are either unreachable or have been destroyed by the elements. Of the rocks that are successfully recovered, only a small percentage are positively identified as meteorites, let alone meteorites of Martian origin. That’s why fewer than 0.01% of all meteorites discovered on Earth come from the Moon or Mars, and why they are so expensive – few materials are so rare and difficult to come by. Though some Martian meteorite specimens may be small, they are nonetheless part of our cosmic past and our history. Even the smallest of meteorites is part of a story larger than our own planet’s, and one that dates to the dawn of our solar system.